The Rival Red Hat Sports

"Miners of Dead Man's Gulch" by Jos. E. Badger Jr., continued serially in this January 23, 1895 issue of Beadle and Adams weeklies.

Two prospectors—the young "Mountain Mark" Mansfield and grizzled "Old Steve"—prospect a Montana gulch where a girl named Florence Cammerhan directs them toward Red Rock Bar, a booming mining town. There they encounter Richard Cunningham, a well-armed gambler sporting a distinctive red woolen hat, who becomes known as "The Red Hat Sport."

In Red Rock Bar, Cunningham gambles at a Black and Red table run by an elegant female dealer. She warns him another man, Herman Smokehouse, already wears an identical red hat and has claimed the nickname. Upon meeting Smokehouse at the hotel, both men claim exclusive right to the red hat designation. They propose settling the dispute through armed combat, with the survivor retaining the hat and title.

The narrative emphasizes the mining camp's rough prosperity, gambling culture, and code of honor among its sporting inhabitants.